Land Rover BAR and ETNZ collide in practice race

Land Rover BAR collided with Emirates Team New Zealand after they had been shut out in the last stages of a practice race pre start sequence.

ETNZ helmsman, Peter Burling: “It was a bit of a shame in the last pre start we had the leeward end of the line pretty locked down, Ben was quite late and just ran straight into the back of us.”

Burling described the damage caused when the windward bow of Land Rover BAR went in under the media pod with their windward bow and hit the inside of the leeward hull.

He said that this had dented and punctured into the cockpit right around where the steering wheel is.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton taliked-up the incident, “We know Ben well, he is a good guy but frustration is obviously getting to him and the red mist came down and it’s a lot of damage in a time we can’t afford it.”

BAR skipper Ben Ainslie Twitted: Bit of a love tap racing hard with @EmiratesTeamNZ sorry guys and hope you're back on the water soon.

Bow damage to Land Rover BAR

Other than the damage sustained it was a positive day for Emirates Team New Zealand, winning both of the races it sailed against Land Rover BAR earlier in the day.

Groupama Team France after both Oracle and Softbank Team japan did not race against the kiwi team.

The Emirates Team New Zealand shore crew were waiting at the dock to retrieve the boat and will now be working around the clock to get the boat back out on the water as soon as possible.